01 January 2017

The Week that Was 1st January 2017

Today Wayne and I are travelling to Sydney to spend some time with his family. Before we left home I filled our thermoses, packed sandwiches, biscuits, Christmas cake and cold drinks for our trip.

I'm excited to start the new year on my blog by listing all the frugal things we did this last week to save money, time and energy.

This week:

We ate a lot of leftovers. I made them into other dishes so they weren't just leftovers and nothing was wasted.

Cooked all our meals using ingredients we had in the fridge, pantry and freezer.

Used washing machine water to keep the back lawn green on the very hot days (and turned it off when it rained).

Saved the kitchen and bathroom warm up water for the pot plants. In this hot weather and with the winds we've had the pots dry out very quickly. I've been watering them twice a day using this water.

Picked the zucchinis from the self-seeded plant.

The self-seeded tomato has some fruit on it - can't wait to see which type they are.

Dried the washing on the clotheshorses under fans in the kitchen on wet days. It was too humid to dry outside under the verandah.

Went through the wrapping paper and boxes from Christmas Day and saved what I could re-use. I have some lovely boxes that can be repurposed into gift boxes, lots of ribbons and some pretty papers.

Went to the Boxing Day sales with Hannah and AJ. We left home at 7am and went straight to Big W, which opened at 7, then to Kmart, then to Target, Sunglass Hut, JB Hi Fi and finally David Jones. I spent the grand sum of $3 - there was nothing else I saw that I wanted, needed or could use so I still have spending money in my purse. Hannah bought new sunglasses at half-price, AJ bought some SD cards on sale.

Used the ceiling fans to keep the house cool on the very hot, humid days we had this week. I was up early to close the windows and curtains each morning.

Mum moved into a nursing home until her arm heals. It's only six minutes from us so nice and close for visits, and close to where my brother works so he can visit easily each day too.

I had to label all Mum's clothes and belongings. As I was labelling her t-shirts I was cutting off the ribbons at the shoulders to add to my craft stash (I asked her first).

Took our excess rubbish to Mum's bins - somehow we had a lot of recycling this fortnight. Even with Christmas we don't usually have so much. Thankfully her bins were empty, I managed to fill the recycle bin, otherwise it would have meant a tip fee.

Filled all three cars using discount vouchers that were about to expire.

Made a new baby card and put together a gift for a friend who had just had a baby girl. Everything came from home so no additional money spent.

Took some cuttings of lavender and planted them into a pot. I have grand plans of having a lavender garden one day :)

Worked a little each day on end of year cleaning, tidying and sorting. Didn't get everything on my list done, but the important things have been crossed off.

And each night I spent a little time updating my new diary, ready to start using it today.

What did you do to save money, time and energy this week?

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Welcome!

If this is your first visit, welcome! If you're a regular visitor, welcome back.

This is my record of the daily challenges the Armstrong family faces as we live life the Cheapskates way - debt free, cashed up and laughing - and try to stay that way.

Here I talk about the little things I do that save us a lot of money and the bigger things that may only save a small amount. I share the things that work for us and the things that don't. I say it as I see it, so if I try something and think it's a dud, I'll tell you. And if I try something and it works, I'll share it with you.

You'll get an insight into a very frugal family living a very comfortable 21st Century lifestyle and I hope it encourages and inspires you as you make your journey to living life the Cheapskates way.